The design of a gas turbine combustor is complicated by the necessity for the gas turbine to operate reliably with a low level of emissions at a variety of power levels. High power operation at high firing temperatures tends to increase the generation of oxides of nitrogen. Low power operation at lower combustion temperatures tends to increase the generation of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons due to incomplete combustion of the fuel. Under all operating conditions, it is important to ensure the stability of the flame to avoid unexpected flameout, damaging levels of acoustic vibration, and damaging flashback of the flame from the combustion chamber into the fuel premix section of the combustor. A relatively rich fuel/air mixture will improve the stability of the combustion process, but will have an adverse affect on the level of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions. A careful balance must be achieved among these various constraints in order to provide a reliable engine capable of satisfying very strict modern emissions regulations. A pilot flame is commonly used to stabilize the flame over a variety of engine loading conditions.
It is known to use catalytic combustion in combustion turbine engines to reduce NOx emissions. One such catalytic combustion technique known as a rich catalytic, lean burn (RCL) combustion process includes mixing fuel with a first portion of air to form a rich fuel mixture. The rich fuel mixture is passed over a catalytic surface and mixed with a second portion of air in a downstream combustion zone to complete the combustion process. U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,608 describes a gas turbine engine having an annular combustor design using catalytic reactor elements in an RCL configuration. The catalytic reaction takes place in a series of annularly mounted modules, each module comprising a catalytic reactor element, a fuel injection region, a rich fuel/air mixing region, and a downstream mixing zone at the catalytic reactor element exit.